Junk Food Linked to Risk of Depression

A Spanish study has found that people who eat food high in trans fats and saturated fats increase their risk of depression, Agence-France Presse reported.

The six-year study analyzed the diet and lifestyle of more than 12,000 volunteers. At the beginning, none of the participants has been diagnosed with depression. By the end, more than 600 people were battling the condition.

"Participants with an elevated consumption of trans fats (fats present in artificial form in industrially produced pastries and fast food...) presented up to a 48 percent increase in the risk of depression when they were compared to participants who did not consume these fats," Almudena Sanchez-Villegas, associate professor of preventive medicine at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, said.

On the other end of the spectrum, researchers looked at the impact that foods such as fish, vegetable oils and olive oil had on mental health, and found they are “associated with a lower risk of suffering depression.”

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, an estimated 15 million people suffer from depression in the U.S.